area and south jersey. i'd watch out for this one until 11:00 because damages winds are a possibility with this weather. the worst being between 7:00 p.m. and midnight. the weather is being blamed for this dangerous situation in new jersey. manhole explosions in the streets of elizabeth. several streets are blocked off at this hour. >> reporter: chuck, a big scare for people in elizabeth. they heard those two blasts, giant manhole covers sent flying into the air. we want to show you some video of one of the explosions caught on camera. now, you can hear that explosion and see the manhole cover flying 25 feet in the air. these things weigh anywhere from 100 to 300 pounds.

police and fire had to evacuate people in the area. now manhole explosions can happen in this kind of weather, that's because salt from the roads seeps on down, corrodes the wiring and eats away at the insulation leading to a blast. >> i was waiting because i was looking outside and i started running and i say to people come on, let's go. i closed and everybody out. >> reporter: now, most of the roads have now been reopened but there are still some repairs to be done, about 25 people are without power. but pse&g tells me they should be able to restore that pretty soon. the messy weather is also causing problems for travelers arriving at local airports. flights are delayed about two hours at la guardia, also similar issues at kennedy with flights arriving about two hours

at newark flights are delayed about an hour and a half. andrew siff is at la guardia with the situation. >> reporter: yeah. the situation, we're also talking about nearly 500 cancel ed flights across the tri-state area. those are flights to chicago, cleveland, columbus, greensboro. planes out on the tarmac, heading to try to get a position on the runway, long, long waits, no doubt that led to a lot of frustration. we spoke to people who had cancelled flielgts ed led flights today. >> they had to rebook me because of the weather. >> i have a business meeting tomorrow that i have to get to. so i have to go. i have to try.

you that you're going to take off on time? >> probably zero. zero confidence. but i'm here. we'll see what happens. >> reporter: that woman we just interviewed who has zero confidence in her flight, the flight to richmond still listed as on time, so maybe she'll be one of the lucky ones. >> follow this weather throughout the night with our nbc 4 new york app, click the weather tab. you'll find interactive radar and any weather alerts you need to know about. and now to breaking developments in the arrest of a staten island babysitter accused of murdering a 16 month old. prosecutors say the little boy faced a weekend of horrors at a hands of the 31-year-old woman, beaten over and over, sexually abused and slammed to the

>> reporter: chuck, the family of 16 month old anthony knew their little boy had been murdered. they knew the babysitter had been arrested for the crime, but what they did not know was the torture and abuse that he suffered before his death. and the family learned all of those details in the courtroom today. they exploded in that courtroom with tears and rage and pure anguish. the prosecutors pointed to 31-year-old babysitter gloria fields in that courtroom and accused her of repeatedly beating the little boy. she allegedly sexually abused him with a crayon and a pen sell and left the items inside him and took him to travel around the city while those items injured him internally. the prosecutor says that fields is seen on video at one point carrying his lifeless body while casually smoking a cigarette and moments later slamming his body into the ground.

fields dropped off the little boy with his grandmother who is their upstairs neighbor. and he was nearly dead. by the time police got there, little anthony was in cardiac arrest. when family members heard these details in court today of his suffering, they were beside themselves with grief. >> i was so shocked. i cannot believe that one person would take the value of a child and do the things that she's done to that baby, an innocent baby. that's all i could say. >> i just wanted to break down. i wanted to break down, because i had no idea all of that took place, walking through the city with this crayon. they said they -- broken collarbone, bruises on his face. so i mean, i didn't even know all of that. >> reporter: outside the

family became irate, angry with the media, certainly angry with the woman accused. court officers streamed out of the building to escort the family away. many of those same family members in the courtroom screamed out with rage, promising revenge in prison. so many folks wanting to know why fields would allegedly attack a little boy the way she did. certainly mental illness is being investigated. but prosecutors also mentioned that fields admitted to at least some of the abuse when she was confronted with her own abuse when she was a child. she's been charged with murder and sexual assault among other charges. reporting live outside the staten island courthouse. new at 5:00 a school bus crashed on long island with students on board. checkey beckford brings us this report. >> a scary ride home indeed for

that bus collided with a toyota prius and another vehicle. we're told there were some teenage students on board at the time. no clear word right now on those injuries. we know that the bus driver, though, had to be taken to the hospital. but again no serious injuries in this crash. this section here of deer park avenue, we've seen a number of school buses coming and going. if you take a look at the school bus, there isn't any major damage to it, only a couple of slight scrapes on the bumper of that school bus. the toyota prius was much more heavily damaged. but again a very fortunate outcome of that accident between a school bus and two weeks. we're in dix hills tonight. new at 5:00, the driver who caused that deadly accident on the jersey turnpike was apparently taking the prescription drug adderall without a prescription.

ten pills of adderall within 24 hours of monday's deadly crash. hahn rear ended a mercedes driven by timothy o'donnell. police have arrested the mother of a two-year-old girl killed in a brooklyn apartment fire. the 20-year-old is charged with wreckless endangerment and child endangerment. firefighters found her daughter dead under her bed after they put out a fire in her bed-stuy apartment. it's not clear if anyone was there to watch the child. still ahead, as we continue verizon customers have trouble with your telephone today, we tell you why. and then at 5:30, police investigating new slashing cases here in the city. hear from one store clerk

decision stwix 2016. >> as leading republicans try to gather steam, donald trump sent out family members to vouch for him. >> reporter: donald trump embraced today by evangelical icon pat robertson. after trump took the evangelical vote last night in nevada and sent a message to his cuban american rivals ted cruz and marco rubio. >> 46% with the hispanics. number one with hispanics. >> reporter: rubio claimed today he can still win. >> if it came down to me and donald trump, i'd beat him by almost 16 points. >> reporter: but cruz is not quitting, nor is john kasich. six days away is super tuesday. donald trump leading in ten states and focusing on texas. cruz today won the endorsement of texas governor greg abbott.

son don junior saying the boys grew up with billions but trump values. >> education, family, work ethic, all of these things that are often lost on children of similar fortune. >> reporter: melania trump said of her husband -- >> he treats me the same as men. >> reporter: in south carolina, democrat hillary clinton is looking at another win. bernie sanders figures he can win four or more super tuesday primaries. >> there are states we're going to lose. but the race goes on. and this is a race. >> reporter: a great upset, says sanders is still possible. so much is on the line now in both parties. it's all out now until tuesday. on long island tonight officials say that traffic concerns are the reason they have stopped construction on a new sikh temple in plainview. members plan to build a brand new temple on the site.

issued a sto work order, citing worries from neighbors about traffic congestion and parking problems. >> there was already some trouble with parking and over flow and just sort of the amount of people. and the residents are seeing a real up tick in cars left illegally parked in front of their homes, congestion in the streets, inability to really peacefully enjoy their own houses on days of worship. >> temple leaders say they want to resolve the issues as quickly as possible so construction can resume. >> new york's crackdown on uber drivers is back on. after a meeting yesterday, newark public safety officials say they will ticket drivers who violate city ordinances. the port authority says the city does not have jurisdiction. and in connecticut a controversy over graduation

people are up in ample rms over a decision to have all graduating students wear red gone wns. up until now, boys have worn red and girls have worn white. a student has started an online petition to reverse the change. if you have a verizon cell phone you may have lost service today due to a hardware failure. verizon says many customers experienced intermittent data outages. the issue was fixed a few hours late zbleer late. let's talk about this weather. >> yeah. you're talking -- some of us may lose power tonight because of the gusty winds we're expecting. we've been looking around our twitter and facebook pages and seeing pictures of the damage around virginia and north carolina today. yesterday it was the gulf coast

this is what we've seen since midnight, gusts between 20 and 35 miles an hour in and around new york city, jfk with 35 plus gusts. that's since midnight so far. across the rest of the area we've seen a lot of areas with nearly 30 miles per hour gusts with trenton, . the winds will get even stronger especially right along the store. that's where the high wind advisory is in effect. this is where we could see gusts to 55 miles an hour. we have a slight risk for se career thunderstorms in our area tonight. most of us will be from philadelphia south toward washington, d.c. where they're seeing the severe weather right now. the threat of tornados at this hour is mainly from va virginia down into north carolina. these are the warnings which mean that tornados and severe

right now in these areas shaded red and oorng. range. that's what's moving in toward washington, d.c. right now, though, we're just seeing pockets of light to moderate showers. no warnings. if something severe moves in, you will get warnings. but from now until about 7:00 or 8:00, it's going to be about the same. from time to time you'll see a heavy cell move through with a downpour and some lightning here and there. the worst of it, that line we're tracking through virginia right now will be headed in our direction and will be almost on top of us around 10:00 tonight. that's when the winds increase even more. that's when the possibility of thunderstorms roll through with gusty winds, damaging winds and very heavy rain. by midnight it's moving away from the city. but you're still seeing it ray cross long island and western sections of connecticut. by 2:00 in the morning it's moving out of the area.

rain and thunderstorms will increase with time from 7:00 to 11:00 tonight. temperatures will be in the 50s. it will be even warmer than where they are right now. winds out of the south, 25-30. but the gusts to 50- 55 are right along the coast. now, tomorrow, going to have gusty winds, but these will be dry winds. the weather will clear out. the temperatures will be mild to start. it will cool off later in the day. the weekend looks fantastic. saturday's high 42. 54 on sunday and monday. but we've got some really rough weather that's entering the picture now for the next several hours. dave price will be tracking those storms. dave's also going to talk about these temperatures out there right now. parents, if you need to

now is the time to get some answers. >> reporter: as you know, if you have a child who is four years old and you live in new york city, you are eligible for full free prek in new york city. now, if your child was born in twelve, 2012, the deadline to sign them up is march 4th. classes begin in september. now, unlike other programs it does not depend on your income level. everyone is eligible. and the department of education tells us they have a seat for every child who wants one. our phone bank is receiving calls from viewers about enrollment. call now 800-909-0047. you can choose up to 12 prek sites near you, near your office. if you need an interpreter

it's an important program because it will prepare your child for kindergarten and learning to love school. i remember paying hundreds of dollars for prek for my child. this is a program that will give you a few more hundred dollars in your pocket to pay your bills. we'll be here until 7:00 p.m. >> with prek application season underway school book is here to help you. go to nbcnew york.com and search schoolbook, one word. well, the like button on facebook is getting a few new friends, because let's face it not every story in your feed is a happy one. in addition to a thumbs up, you can now have love, laugh, wow, sad or angry reactions. all you have to do is hold the like button on your smart phone

and then the new icons just pop up. >> there's still much more ahead. >> a teenager joins isis by mistake. tonight she describes life with those militants and how she was able to escape. there is an effort underway to lower the drinking age in new jersey. we're going to tell you who's behind it and why. also, caught on camera, a quick stop at a gas station takes a scary turn. did you see that? what exploded inside that man's pocket. and the same powerful system that's moving through our area, ravaged parts of the south,

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we no longer offer an excuse to get out of your morning run. we're making a bunch of changes at time warner cable. now you can choose a one-hour arrival window, and our new tech tracker feature will alert you with a text or email with your technician's name and photo pwhen we're on the way. a sweet

was duped into joining isis. her boyfriend took an interest in joining isis, asked her to tag along. she says she agreed not knowing what isis was. the couple left sweden in may of 2015, traveling through syria before settling in mosul iraq. >> when i was there, i didn't have anything, no water, no electricity and didn't have any money either and it was a really hard life. >> the teen was rescued by kurdish special forces and is now in iraq waiting to be handed over to swedish authorities. she shared her story with a kurdish tv station. you can find almost anything for sale on amazon.com except for hoverboards. the company has quietly removed the popular scooters from its website. the change follows similar moves from other retailers like target and toys r us.

safety commission called the toys unsafe. have you noticed fewer people calling in sick to work? a better flu vaccine this year may be part of the reason. new data shows it is 59% effective. that's a big improvement over last winter when it was 20% effective. listen to this, some local college students will be putting down their books to build. >> reporter: there's been another slashing, this time a teenager in brooklyn. the violent crime seems to be on the rise, but are you at risk of a random attack? and it is a windy, rainy, raw day across the tri-state and it's going to get worse before it gets better. up next, which parts of our area

and coming up at 6:00, cops punished for not meeting quotas? now the i-team gets an exclusive

listen up new york. there's a new drug out there. and it's trying to destroy our generation. it's called synthetics. . . so, some guy thought it might be a good idea to spray poison on some herbs, and then sell it to you. no, it's not marijuana. it goes by names like k2, spice, rocks. causes hallucinations, rapid heart-beat. vomiting, seizures. and it can kill you the first

we gotta have each other's backs. this is our future. and the future of new york is saying no to synthetics! go to oasas.ny.gov, or call or text the hopeline. from bad to worse, it is raining now, but things set to take a nastyer turn er nastier turn.

path of destruction down south. >> we have storm team 4's dave price. >> we have of course watches just south of our viewing area and high wind advisories. look at this line of severe weather. this is a typical outbreak you'd see in april, stretching about 550 miles. it's moving about 55 miles per hour at this point. what it's going to bring us is very, very heavy rain and quick moving rain and high winds at the same time. the rain is the secondary issue. the winds are going to be upwards of 55 miles per hour, progressing towards us through the next several hours. as we head to about 8:00 tonight, that's when the roughest weather is going to come in our direction, hitting new york city at about 8:36, rolling through fairfield county, working to the north and northeast. we've going to give you specific areas to be concerned about and what we think the path and